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BANGKOK (AFP)

England footballers David Beckham (left) and Wayne Rooney pose during a photocall to launch The England 2018 / 2022 World Cup bid at Wembley Stadium in London, May 2009. Andy Anson, chief executive of England's bid team for 2018 said that England have red-carded the cocky-sounding "Football?s coming home" slogan as they step up their campaign to host the World Cup finals in 2018.

England have red-carded the cocky-sounding "Football?s coming home" slogan as they step up their campaign to host the World Cup finals in 2018, the bid chief said on Thursday.

Overuse of the catchphrase was partly blamed for England losing out to Germany as hosts of the 2006 World Cup and Andy Anson, chief executive of England's bid team for 2018, is determined not to fall into a similar trap.

"I think it was arrogant and we do not want to be seen as arrogant," the former commercial director of Manchester United told AFP.

"There are a lot of people now who feel that football belongs in their country and we cannot be the only ones who say it is our game.

"I think we have got to be out there projecting a very positive image, which is, we have got the Premier League, it is a fantastic league, we have got all these great players from overseas but we are part of a global sport."

Anson is on a fly-the-flag visit to Asia during which he will meet several of the FIFA executive committee members who will vote on the venues for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in December next year.

England are up against Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands (joint bid), Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Portugal (joint bid), and the United States for the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

Those nine bidders have also thrown their hat into the ring for the 2022 finals along with South Korea and Qatar,

Getting Worawi Makudi, president of the Football Association of Thailand and a long-time member of FIFA, onside is viewed as one of the major prizes by all the contenders.

"Worawi has been a great help to us in giving us advice," said Anson. "He has been around the FIFA world much longer than I have.

"He has also been a big friend of English football for a long time. I am trying to meet all the FIFA Exco members at the moment, trying to get to know them, and hear what they expect from a World Cup in England."

England, whose bid has already been praised by the legendary Franz Beckenbauer, a FIFA member, are seen in many quarters as favourites to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup but Anson disagreed with the view that "it was theirs to lose".

"I think it is ours to win. We have got to work very hard to win it. There are so many competitors in the mix you just cannot take anything for granted," he said.

"Out of the 11 bidding countries you have some very strong ones. If we sit back and rest on our laurels we would not have a chance, it is such a competitive landscape."

England last hosted the World Cup in 1966 when a Geoff Hurst hat-trick propelled them to victory in the final over West Germany and Anson believes they can present a compelling case for 2018.

"Our starting point is always about the passion of the fans in England and the fact that in every community in England they are obsessed with football and the passion of football," he said.

"And, if you add onto that the diversity of those communities, any team playing in the World Cup would probably pack a stadium full of its own fans who are based in England.

"We have great stadiums and the infrastructure, the security, the accommodation is all pretty much in place now.

"I think a World Cup would be very, very special in England."

23/07/2009 08:39:42 UST

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